Deftune.com salutes the Beatmonstas as they post about our journey from crew to fully functioning independent digital label and distribution company. DefTune sites Beatmonstas Entertainment and Beatmonstas’ new single “Let’s Go” as an example of the music industry’s future.

Read the post below or head over to Deftune.com and check it out.

Based in Chicago Beatmonstas is a collective of crews more specifically Knexxus Know-How, The SoreLosers, Vibe Percent later known as Sac.Fly, and a production / management company called “USBF2.” They all either grew up together or met at some point while attending Columbia College, Chicago. Somewhere along the way everyone went there separate ways.

“Fast forward to 2003… Phashara, of Sac. Fly / Sore Losers, began producing music, worked on a solo EP & put together a 5 piece hip-hop band. Noble Dru and Nipples tha PIMP decided to produce music under the name of Beatmonstas. Diamond Back and Noble Dru asked Phashara to join their group Phort Knoxx and he did….

With all of these new ventures on the table it became clear to all involved (Phashara, Diamond Back, Aum Mu Ra, Noble Dru & Nipples tha PIMP)that there was a new chapter writing itself and Beatmonstas was its title.”

- www.beatmonstas.com

Beatmonstas is now a full digital record label and they handle all aspects such as music distribution, marketing, publishing and merchandising. They are another example of what the future of music will be like. Artists handling all aspects of their business and maintaining full creative control.

Buy a copy of Let’s Go today at amazon.com, iTunes or emusic.com. There is even an a Capella included for the remix fiends out there. BTW, if you remix the song send us a copy of it. If we dig we will post it on our site and give you production credit.

Release Date: 08/12/2008
Artist: Beatmonstas

Format: Digital Download

Download One Sheet
$3.99

Due to a circumstances beyond our control we’ve decided that it’s best that the Beatmonstas Entertainment Digital Store located at digital.beatmonstas.com be temporarily closed. There are issues with the google listing and search results of the store where the URL pointers are directing traffic to various and numerous other digital stores including but not limited to Duck Down Records digital store.

It is important that we inform you all that while we respect other digital retailers such as Duck Down Records, we are not affiliated with them. Therefore, you should know that any link from google search results that lead to their digital store is in error and our releases are not carried in their store.

Other bad links include URLs that contain either of the following;

• buymybeats,
• meandmybeats,
• hiphopmp3store,
• thebigcomeup,
• buyplaymusic,
• digitalmusicdistributors,
• digitalbookdistributors,
• dmsteststore,
• digitalmusictoday.

Please be advised that these stores are not affiliated with Beatmonstas Entertainment in any way. Our digital retailer partners and preferred digital download partners are as follows. Please make your Beatmonstas Entertainment purchases at the following retailers;

• iTunes (US & Worldwide)
• Amazon.com
• eMusic.com
• Rhapsody.com
• Napster
• Halcyondigi.com

Thank you for your patience while we resolve this issue.

Halcyondigi.com is a digital music store specializing in underground dance & hip-hop music in high-quality MP3 and WAV format. The store is filled with rare finds and reissues in all genres including jazz, funk, soul, afro-cuban, electronic, breakbeat, exotica, disco and of course hip-hop.

The cool thing about Halcyon is that they only carry choice record label’s catalog’s such as Ninja Tune & Big Dadda. Ninja Tune is known for it’s ill underground releases featuring Prince Po, Lil Sci, Abstract Rude, Brother J & Cut Chemist. While Big Dada is the Hip Hop imprint of London-based independent record label, Ninja Tune. It is best known for being the home of prominent British hip hop artist Roots Manuva. Recently, Beatmonstas Entertainment has been added to this list of choice labels that are carried by Halcyon Digi.

Head over to our new favorite digital shop and cop our latest releases Let’s Go (Beatmonstas) & The Storybook Adventure (Phashara). Both are prominently featured at the top of “The Real Hip-Hop” page of the site.

We are sure you will agree that Halcyon Digi is heaven for digital diggers and music lovers alike.

The Storybook Adventure reviewed on Okayplayer.com… Read the review in it’s entirety here.

It appears that the seemingly low score of 65 for The Storybook Adventure at Okayplayer is causing a bit of a stir. Although, the review wasn’t the worst, as there are much worst reviews on the site, the review seems to reflect a better performance that the score implies. While the reviewer gave the albums production high marks in the review, Phashara was said to “fall flat”. Still it was written that “Phashara has certainly shown he can hit it out of the park when he wants to”.

Well, as the days roll by there are a few “Storybook” Fans that have openly disagreed with the review. Here are a few qoates from the blog comments.

Phashara is a great beacon of light in this very dark hour in hip-hop in general and the music industry as a whole. I demand better from a on-line community that has positioned itself in the market as a serious arbiter for independent music - Big Sister of hip-Hop

come on man,this was a very good album,boom-bap-beats, storytelling,and no snap music.Why is “New” always scary - Ronald Raygun

Phashara is the truth. Saw him with the Beatmonstas at their release party in Chicago Darkroom. That dude is amazing live. The review does not match the score. - Daddy Dookie

Wow! Okayplayer must not have heard the same Storybook that i heard. Score board broken or something? this should at least be an 80. - ATeL

he cd is fresh. we need more like it. I guess fly wordplay and intelligence is out of style. Hey Phashara if you read this keep shining brother. - They Gonna Say

Thanks to our hardcore supporters for the comments. Keep in mind that we all have opinions and no press is bad press. For those that havent read the review yet read below. Big ups to Okayplayer for the feature.

Like many rappers before him, Phashara has set out on The Storybook Adventure to bring authenticity back to a genre so many say is dying. And, more importantly, he has decided to focus his game on weaving stories with his lyrics, as his album name obviously implies, and sharing tales from his hometown of Chicago. The only problem is that his delivery tends to fall flat, which mars an otherwise strong production effort from Phashara himself, Tall Black Guy, Noble Dru and others.

As written, the beats on here are what truly make this album worth listening to. Although many of his own efforts are less than stellar, Phashara was handed several exceptional musical backdrops, particularly from Noble Dru. And it helps that when Dru brings the heat, so does Phashara. Dru’s “Bill Red” showcases Phashara at his hungriest, rapping introspectively as he looks back on his difficult family life. The same goes for “Chosen Few,” which has a perfectly chopped vocal sample blaring behind a damn fine posse cut featuring Bosa, Dru and Therapy.

But that’s not all. Another solid, mellow beat is heard on “Stop Frontin’,” which calls out phony tough guys akin to Dizzee Rascal’s “Where’s Da G’s” with the moral of the story being ‘do you,’ according to the chipmunked voice at the end. Dru’s only lacking beat is “Oh My God,” which says a lot considering that the track is still a banger. Tall Black Guy is no slouch either, as he kills it with that topnotch guitar loop on “The Storm.”

If this had been a producer-focused album, chances are I would have been less harsh on our host, Phashara. But he simply fails to impress as an emcee. A lot of the raps are overdubbed and echoed, which makes the vocals distracting rather than adding more punch to Phashara’s verses. It could have worked if it had not been used on nearly every track. For example, “Cause U Fly,” the song for the ladies, simply has too much going on. It does have Phashara at his best on the mic, however, particularly when he switches his flow in the second verse.

Although all is not lost for this Chicagoan, mostly thanks to the production, The Storybook Adventure could have used more variety. Additional tracks like the grimy “Thirsty” and the funky “You Want It” would have made a huge difference, since they standout amongst others that fail to shine. Phashara has certainly shown he can hit it out of the park when he wants to, but unfortunately that just doesn’t happen enough on here.

- Andrew Martin

Below is an RSS feed of the most recent 5 comments as they continue to roll in…

... - Thu, 20 May 2010
http://www.mbtshoes2your.com/ - allen545

... - Mon, 20 Oct 2008
I got two beats on this album! That rating shoulda been higher tho, more in the 80s area! wtf!! He is speaking some real talk on it but yeah..... get neighborhood suicide also and myspace.com/radius and radiushead.com peace - Radius

... - Fri, 22 Aug 2008
Evidence that smoking and writing reviews don't mix!!! What fckn CD were you listening to???? - Snot Blocker

... - Fri, 22 Aug 2008
Hey Mr. Andrew Martin!!! Once you emcee your own project, then you can talk. Until then, I recommend that you shut-off that non-sense chin music that you're yappin'!!! Obviously, you don't know what real hip-hop is. - "I" of the Storm

... - Fri, 22 Aug 2008
What's with the hatred of Chicago,my son. - Jesus "the son"

Phashara’s “The Storybook Adventure” CD was released in July 2008 and has met with rave reviews. Now as the CD continues to catch waves, Beatmonstas Entertainment in conjunction with Urban Underground will present a stellar release party at The Airliner near Downtown LA.

The event will take place on September 12^th 2008 and has been dubbed “The Storybook Adventure’s West-Coast Record Release Party”. Performers for the evening include Phashara with DJ Dinari Lee , The Swimteam, Planet Asia and more.

Chicago Love from Gapers Block Transmission… Peep what they had to say about Phashara & The Storybook Adventure

The current state of hip-hop, especially in Chicago, is eclectic to say the least. You can basically come from any direction, electro-glitch, old school beats and rhymes, slick well-produced, raw bedroom beats, it doesn’t really matter. At its core, to quote Rakim, the role of the MC is to the move the crowd. Everything else is just window dressing, bling, trash, whatever. Chicago emcee Phashara released his debut album, The Storybook Adventure (Beatmonstas Entertainment) last month, and it really speaks the diverse nature of hip-hop today. He is not trying to break new ground. He is not claiming to be the original or the abstract. He wants to take it back to the days when hip hop was golden, and everyone was bouncing over chopped up funk and soul. He wants to tell a story and move the crowd.

Featuring beats by Chicago producers Noble Dru and Radius, The Storybook Adventure touches on all aspects of life. From the hopeful to the hunger, from the deadly to the daring, Phashara speaks to the youth and the experienced a like, revealing rich portrayals of life through the eyes of a west side Chicagoan.

- Jason Behrends

Beatmonstas ready a warning shot EP (Let’s Go) from the forthcoming LP entitled “Bomb Til We hit Em” for release in August of 2008. The Ep will be available via iTunes & Amazon.com.

Let’s Go is the precursor to the forth-coming full length Beatmonstas project entitled “Bomb ‘til We Hit ‘em”. Some may refer to it as a warning shot. Let’s Go is like lightening in a bottle. Untainted magic. The Beatmonstas’ emcee’s Therapy, Phashara & Noble Dru spit pure aggression. Their b-boy swagger is at 110% over this “Portishead meets Pete Rock” track produced by Noble Dru. The sound of Let’s Go is reminiscent of a 60’s soul / rock band jam session but in a modern boom-bap context.

The full length Beatmonstas project is tentatively scheduled for November release. You can expect production by Noble Dru, Phashara, Dig Dug & Tall Black Guy. More to come. Stay tuned.